Thursday, December 7, 2017

1st Lesson AFA: Transgender is an adjective - not a noun

“An impulsive and incurious Trump is a bigger threat to our security and safety than transgender troops.”

Needless to say, American Family Association's message of hate is worse than its faulty grammar. It is, after all, a designated Hate Group. Thursday they are bent out of shape over transgender military personnel.

A year after former President Barack Obama initiated the practice of recruiting and accepting transgenders into the United States military – and just five months after Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump told the Pentagon transgenders would not be allowed into the Armed Forces in any capacity, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday that it is preparing to accept transgenders on New Year’s Day.

There are transgender personnel — enlisted and officers — who have been in military service for some time. As long as they perform satisfactorily, what is the problem? Must the military conform to conservative Christianity because our sociopathic president is a panderer?

“It’s mainly because of the well-funded legal teams pursuing lawsuits against the nation and the activist judges who affirm their complaints,” WND reported. “Ironically, they have decided that while the Barack Obama administration was allowed to arbitrarily change the U.S. military rules on the issue, President Trump is not allowed to change them back.”

What source could possibly be more authoritative than WND? An “activist” is a judge who makes a ruling that some right-winger doesn't like. Moreover, WND is factually incorrect. Arbitrarily means on the basis of random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system. The issue was carefully studied and included commissioned research from the RAND Corporation. What wasarbitrary was Trump's unstudied attempt to reverse policy for no discernible reason.

Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly says that she and her independent public policy organization view the outcome of the matter as “very disappointing.”

“If they haven’t already done so, the Department of Justice should have asked for an immediate stay of the court ruling handed down in the D.C. Court on October 30 and in Baltimore on November 21,” Donnelly asserted, according to WND. “Both rulings exceeded the authority of the district judges, who have no constitutional power to run the military.”

Isn't that the same Donnelly who predicted that open gay service would result in the uncontrolled transmission of HIV and savage rapes? Isn't that the same Donnelly who was fixated on who showered with whom? Federal courts are empowered with “judicial review.” The military, which is under civilian control is not exempted from review.

Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins, who is a Marine veteran, showed frustration over the social experimentation taking place in the military at the expense of America’s safety. He condemned Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling, which he says is an indication that she believes she can run the military better than the commander-in-chief.

Perkins is a hate group leader with a religious intolerance of LGBT people. His opinion on the matter is irrelevant. While Perkins' bigotry has languished, society has advanced. There is no evidence whatsoever that transgender personnel compromise safety. Quite the contrary if the RAND study is to believed. Furthermore, my neighbor's 16 year-old son is better equipped to run the military than Trump.

Another legal expert at FRC, Peter Sprigg, is assured that the law in the four cases is clearly on Trump’s side.

“This was a policy decision on the part of the Obama administration to reverse the longstanding policy that excluded transgender persons from the military,” Sprigg noted, according to WND. “It is a policy decision of the Trump administration to reverse that. This is really not a constitutional issue.”

Legal expert? Sprigg is a Baptist minister who, to the best of my knowledge, has no legal training. Again, the change under President Obama was based on a study of the issue. Trump's “reasoning” is purely political at the expense of a minority group who wishes to serve the nation.

“I think that the judge has internalized the way that the media covers this, which is that it’s a civil rights issue,” Sprigg offered. “It’s a matter of discrimination. It’s a matter of irrational animus toward people because of who they are. They’re simply failing to look at the real issues.”

That about sums it up. No one ever accused Mr. Sprigg of being rational.

“The Justice Department had indicated in legal filings that it may seek an emergency stay in the D.C. judge’s ruling so that the accessions could be delayed,” the Examiner’s Travis J. Tritten noted.

If they do then they might, or might not, succeed. Sessions can be counted upon to do the discriminatory thing. Three years to go … assuming that they don't blow us all to hell in the interim. An impulsive and incurious Trump is a bigger threat to our security and safety than transgender troops.